THE DESCENDANTS of former Victorian Prime Minister William Gladstone are being urged to pay reparations to Jamaica.
The Gladstone family recently issued an apology to Guyana for the family’s involvement in slavery in the country and said they would aim to donate £100,000 to a university.
But now, the family has been accused of ignoring its links to slavery in Jamaica.
Speaking to the BBC, the family said: “At the moment we are solely focused on Guyana.”
“There is a huge amount to do here [in Guyana],” the Gladstones said.
Last year, London’s first memorial to the Transatlantic Slave Trade was unveiled in Gladstone Park, a park is named after former Prime Minister Sir William Gladstone, whose family owed plantations in the Caribbean.
John Gladstone, father of the former PM, was paid £106,000 compensation after abolition of slavery – which is believed to be worth at least £17m today.
He received the largest of all compensation payments made by the Slave Compensation Commission.
According to records on the Legacies of British Slavery database, John Gladstone owned over 2,500 enslaved Africans in both Guyana and Jamaica.
But at a ceremony at the University of Guyana, in Gerogetown, the family apologised and vowed to make donations, but there was no mention of the family’s historical slavery links to Jamaica.
Speaking to the news corporation, Verene Shepherd, director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies said the Gladstone family must “commit to reparations, as they’re doing in Guyana”.
Speaking at the event, direct descendant of the former Prime Minister, Charles Gladstone, said: “It is with deep shame and regret that we acknowledge our ancestors involvement in this crime and with heartfelt sincerity, that we apologise to the descendants of the enslaved in Guyana.
“In so doing, we acknowledge slavery’s continuing impact on the daily lives of many.”
According to reports the family have donated £100,000 to the University of Guyana’s International Institute for Migration and Diaspora Studies.
Mr Gladstone joined campaign group Heirs of Slavery, which is made up of descendants of plantation owners and enslavers.
The group say they want Britain to face up to “the ongoing consequences of this crime against humanity.”
Earlier this year, BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan announced she was leaving the corporation – after thirty years – to join the Caribbean’s fight for slavery reparations.
This came a few weeks after Ms Trevelyan and other members of her family apologised for their ancestor’s role in slavery on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
Caribbean leaders have been calling for reparations for some time from former colonial powers.
In September 2022, leading Jamaican politician Lisa Hanna urged Britain to pay reparations for its role in slavery.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has also told The Voice that now was the time for reparations.